Speed-indicating and mileage-registering apparatus.



M. IRION & A. E. MUELLER. SPEED INDICATING AND MILEAGE REGISTERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR, 11. 1914 w w i i PateniedJune 8, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

ATTORNEYS THE NORRIS PETERS C0,, PHOTC-LITHO WASHINUION, L7v c M. IRION & A E MUELLER. SPEED INDICATING AND MILEAGE REGISTERING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. I], 1914.

Patented June 8, 1915.

2 5HEET$$HEET 2- WITNESSES @bbM A ATTORNEYS 7H 5 NORRIS PETERS C0 PHOTO-LITHQ.v WASH INGTOIL u l MATTHEW IRION AND ADOLF EDUARD MUELLER, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

SPEED-INDIGATING AND MILEAGE-REGISTERING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 8, 1915.

Application filed April 11, 1914. Serial No. 831,237.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Marrrmw IRION and A om E. MUELLER, citizens of the United States, and residents of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented a new and Improved Speed- Indicating and Mileage-Registering Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention rel ates to an apparatus designed for use in connection with automobiles, locomotives and other vehicles.

The general objects of the present invention are to improve and simplify the construction and operation of apparatus of the character referred to so as to be reliable and eflicient in use, comparatively inexpensive to manufacture, and so designed as to be thoroughly accurate, a factor extremely important in this class of instruments and lacking in present day apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a simple, reliable and accurate speed indicating means or speedometer of that type including centrifugally acting elements, such as weights, whose outward movement is opposed by a series of finely adjusted springs which are brought into action successively and cumulatively as the speed increases, so that at a certain low speed only one or a plurality of springs are active, at another speed additional springs are active, at a still higher speed more springs are added to those already active, and so on until finally all the springs are active in opposing the outward movement of each weight, the weights being of course operatively connected with a needle which passes over a dial to show the speed of travel at any instant. In connection with the speedometer a mileage register is employed for indicating the daily and total number of miles traveled by the vehicle on which the apparatus is mounted.

lVith these objects in view, and others which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention comprises various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts such as will be set forth with particularity in the claims appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of the invention, and wherein similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, Figure 1 is a front view of the speedometer with a portion broken away to illustrate the internal parts; Fig. 2 is a similar section on line 3-3, Fig. 3; Fig. 3 is a view looking into the casing from one end; Fig. 1 is a detail View of part of the connecting means between the centrifugal weight and the indicator hand of the speedometer; and Fig. 5 is a detail view of the tension adjusting means for the centrifugal weight resisting springs.

Referring to the drawings, A designates the case of the speedometer, and its face 1 is provided with a scale 2 for indicating the speed in miles by means of a movable hand or pointer 3, and in the face are sets of upper and lower apertures L and 5 for revealing the number dials of the daily or trip mileage and total mileage registers. J ournaled in the bearing 6, Fig. 3, of the bottom 7 of the casing is a vertical shaft 8 which is adapted to be connected by a flexible shaft or other driving means with some moving part of the vehicle, so as to rotate at a proportionate speed thereto, and this shaft 8 is adapted to operate the hand of the speedometer and the driving means for the registering mechanisms. On the shaft 8 is a gear 9 which meshes with gears 10 and 11 fastened to the vertical shafts 12 and 13 respectively that are suitably journaled in the frame B within the casing A On the upper end of the shaft 12 is a gear 1 1 which meshes with a pinion 15 on the lower end of the spindle 16 of the speed responsive device O, which spindle or shaft 16 is journaled in step and guide bearings 17 and 18, as clearly shown in Figs. 3 and 4:. On the upper end of the spindle 16 is a block 19 on which are pivoted at 20 hanging weights 21 that are disposed at opposite sides of the spindle 16. The lower extremities of the weights are pivotally connected at 22 with links 23 that are in turn pivotally connected at 24L with a sliding sleeve 25 on the shaft 16, which slides up and down as the weights move outwardly and inwardly by means of speed variations of the vehicle. This sleeve 25 operates through a system of levers and gears to move the hand 3 over the scale 2 of the speedometer. The inertia of the weights 21 is sufficient opposition to centrifugal action for a range of movement corresponding to a speed of travel under a certain limit, say ten miles, and beyond this point opposition to centrifugal action is provided through a series of U- haped springs 26 which are arranged in two groups of threes, as shown in Fig. 3, the respective groups being fastened to the opposite ends of a cross bar 27 fastened on the weight-carrying block 19.

The springs 26 are so arranged that their lower extremities or tips are separated successively from each other along the arc in which the weights swing, and on the weights are laterally extending projections or abutments 28 so arranged as to engage the tips of the innermost springs to cause such springs to yield outwardly a certain dis tance as the speed of rotation increases, until such innermost springs contact with. the tips of the next pair of springs so that the resistance of such latter springs is add ed to the innermost springs to oppose the outward movement of the weights, and in this manner the third, fourth and fifth pairs of springs, and so on, are successively brought into action as the speed increases. F or instance, after the speed has reached ten miles per hour, as indicated by the needie of the speedometer, the first pair of springs begins to act against the weights 21, and as soon as the speed reaches twenty miles per hour the second pair of springs acts against the outward movement of the weights, and when the speed is thirty miles an hour the third pair of springs offers its resistance, and in this manner the springs act cumulatively to oppose the centrifugal movement of the weights with a constantly increasing speed of rotation.

In order to accurately adjust the tension or set of these springs 26, each half of each spring has an adjusting screw or equivalent device 29, and these screws engage the springs at opposite sides of the central points of anchorage to the crossbar 27, so that by turning the screws, which are them selves carried by the cross-bar 27, the springs can be adjusted. The adjustment of the springs is an important feature, as upon their proper tension depends largely the accuracy of the speedometer.

The transmission mechanism between the sleeve of the speed responsive device and the hand 3 of the speedometer is clearly shown in Figs. 1, 3. The arbor 30 of the hand 3 is operated by a train of gears 31 from a swinging arm or lever 32 which is operatively connected with the speed responsive device, and in connection with the arbor is a light spring 33 to hold the hand steady. The arm 32 is connected by a link 34 with an arm or lever 35 approximately parallel with the arm 32. his arm 35 is fastened to a horizontal rock shaft 36 suitably 'ournaled in the frame B, and on this shaft is an arm 3'? provided with a rounded head 38 which engages between flanges 39 and 40 of the sleeve 25, Fig. 2, so that as the sleeve moves up and down under speed variations, the arm 37 will roch the shaft 36 and cause the hand 3 to move through the.

movement of the levers 35 and 32 and train of gears 31. A counter-balancing means is employed in connection with the speed rcsponsive device, and such means consists of a lever 11 fulcrumed at 42 in the frame B and having a slotted arm 1-3 so arranged that the slot 1-4; thereof engages a pin 45 on an arm 46 fastened to the shaft 36, and on the long arm 47 of this lever ll is an adjustable weight e8 whereby the system of levers is counterbalanced.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the advantages of the construction and method of operation will be readily understood by those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while we have shown the apparatus which we now consider to be the best embodiment thereof, we de sire to have it understood that the apparatus shown is merely illustrative, and that such changes may be made when desired as are within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A speedometer comprising a rotating element adapted to be connected to a moving part, the speed of which is to be measured, a speed responsive device geared to the said rotating element, a speed indicating hand, and connecting means between the speed responsive device and hand, said device con sisting of centrifugally acting weights, and a plurality of springs acting successively against and arranged in the path of the outward movement of the weights.

2. In a speedometer, the combination of a scale-bearing dial, a hand movable thereover, a speed responsive device including centrifugally-acting weights, a connection between the weights and hand for moving the latter, and a plurality of springs disposed in the path of the weights and arranged to successively oppose the outward movement thereof.

In a speedometer, the combination of a rotating shaft, centrifugally-acting weights connected therewith, a sliding element on the shaft and connected with the weights, a speed indicating hand, connecting means between the hand and said sliding element, and a plurality of nested springs mounted on the shaft and arranged to be engaged by the weights, the weight-engaging portions of the springs being normally spaced apart to act successively on the weights in opposing their outward movement.

4. In a speedometer, the combination of a scale, a hand movable thereover, and a speed responsive device connected with the said hand, said device including a centrifugally acting element, and a plurality of devices opposing the centrifugal movement of the weights and arranged to act successively and 25 a speed responsive cumulatively in opposing the centrifugal movement of the element.

5. In a speedometer, the combination of a scale, a hand movable thereover, and a speed responsive device connected with the said hand, said device including a centrifugally acting element, a plurality of devices opposing the centrifugal movement of the weights and arranged to act successively and cumulatively in opposing the centrifugal movement of the element, and means for independently adjusting the tension of the said devices.

6. A speedometer including an indicating member movable with speed variations, with a speed responsive device operatively connected with and moving the same, sai device including a centrifugally acting element, and a plurality of leaf springs having free extremities arranged to successively and cumulatively oppose the centrifugal movement of the said element.

7 A speedometer including an indicating member movable with speed variations, with device operatively con- Gopiel of thin patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Warhinzton, D. 0."

nected with and moving the same, said device including a centrifugally acting element, a plurality of leaf springs having free extremities arranged to successively and cumulatively oppose the centrifugal movement of the said element, and means for adjusting the tension of each spring.

8. In a speedometer, the combination of an indicating member, a speed responsive element connected with and moving the same, a plurality of springs having their tips arranged spaced apart and disposed to successively resist the centrifugal action of the said element, a support for the springs, and separate adjusting screws on the support for each spring, to adjust the tension thereof.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MATTHEW IRION.

ADOLF EDUARD Witnesses:

FRED J. RIEBEL,

J. J. Moon.

MUELLER.

Commissioner of Patente. 

